


Character Studies

by thehaakun



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 14:04:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14238873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehaakun/pseuds/thehaakun
Summary: A collection of studies I write about certain characters from different fandoms, with a focus in trying to improve aspects of my writing.





	1. Genji (Overwatch)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! This is a collection of short WIPs (?) where most of them are just meant to be exercises for myself to either experiment with some wordplay, get a handle on writing different voices, or try to push myself into unfamiliar territory by writing in different styles than what I'm used to!
> 
> I thought some people would like to see my creative thought process when I'm working on these studies, so 1) they know what I'm trying to focus on (and it helps me know what I'm trying to do when focusing on a goal for a certain WIP) and 2) get to read some small bits that I don't think deserve their own entire fic on their own.  
> Hopefully in the future this collection of stories will tell me how far I've come in terms of writing improvement and progress! and hopefully you guys will be able to see it too! :D 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

He breathes in, and lets his lungs fill with the air from the mountains, from the sky, from the earth.

He breathes out, and lets his shoulders fall as he relaxes the tension in his body.

A tension that never really leaves him, regardless of what he tries.

But he tries, all the same, because as his master says, patience is a warrior’s greatest weapon.

He inhales deeply once more, his chest expanding, and the metal plates around his ribs flex with the movement.

Shifting uncomfortably at the unwanted reminder, he crosses his legs more tightly together, trying to ignore how the armor along his calves scrape against each other.

Sighing, he opens his eyes and drops his hands into his lap, staring out beyond the cliff’s edge and looking into the gray mists that shroud the valleys below. All he can make out are just the barest tips of the tallest green trees, alders and cedars nestled between the ridges of the white-peaked mountains.

His mind wanders, and for the briefest moment, he amuses himself with thinking that there’s slumbering little green dragons down below, the crests on their backs poking out above the silver blanket gently placed over them.

And then when he casts his gaze upward, at where the vast stretch of azure sky sweeps on into infinity all around him, a briefest spark of enlightenment comes to him.

As his master said, the world continues on. It will forever continue its journey around the sun, limitless and endless in its path. Unbothered and untouched by the multitude of lives on its surface and the events that transpire across its lands and seas, the earth moves forward.

He looks down at his hands.

The right may no longer be of flesh and bone, and the left covered in a myriad of faded scars from battles long ago, and yet he still came to be here, breathing, thinking, wondering.

He had, in his own way, moved forward. His journey, he thinks in amusement, had not been as simple as the elliptical path the earth takes each year. If it had been...He shakes his head.

The path to enlightenment is not made to be simple, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever be.

And yet many make the pilgrimage along the steep and unforgiving road, to reach the end and find a long-awaited peace.

He clasps his hands together, seeing the tan skin of his left against the black and white plates of his right. Lowering his head and closing his eyes, Genji prays not only that he himself makes it to the end of his long and arduous journey, but that his brother, wherever he may be, can meet him there one day too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a big fan of Genji as a character so I kind of have always wanted to write something about him!!  
> Knowing his anger and what he'd been through and how he worked through it struck a chord with me, so for the purpose of this study I really wanted to capture how he kind of works through his past trauma?
> 
> At the same time this is a warmup to get used to writing characters from different fandoms, and writing a character like Genji is different from writing the other characters I'm used to writing lol, so getting used to writing different voices is helping me a lot too


	2. Corrin (FE: Fates)

She heard a story once, about the red thread of fate. 

That the gods would tie an unseen string between two soulmates, two halves, two people who were destined to meet, regardless of place, or time, or circumstance.

So when she stands on the shores of the lake, and sees the blue ribbons of Azura’s dress fluttering in the breeze, her hand twitches, and maybe she imagines the feeling of a thread wrapped around her little finger.

They couldn’t be more like opposites. Their lives, their personalities.

She doesn’t understand it, but somehow, she finds herself drawn to the lake each morning, finds herself looking forward to speaking with Azura, finds herself at peace and not so out of place when she sees the color blue.

Her hand twitches, again, and she glances at Azura’s little finger when she says that their lives were intertwined before they’d even met.

But maybe it’s not for the better. Fate -- or the gods -- can play cruel jokes and unfair hands. 

If the dragon blood within her burned hot like an unstoppable wildfire, then the power in Azura’s pendant could submerge it all like a tidal wave. But instead of drowning, she feels like Azura’s pulling her back to the surface, back to her own body, and she gasps as she takes her first breath of air as a human again.

But it’s Azura who feels the scorch marks of her fury and despair, the red welts on her neck a reminder of the fiery claws she’d had just moments ago, and she looks down at her trembling hands, and she doesn’t imagine, she knows, that it’s guilt and fear pulling at her heartstrings.

But even as much as she tries to stay away from Azura to keep her safe, she clenches and unclenches her fist constantly, trying to ignore the part of her heart that whispers and wishes to be closer to the songstress who saved her, to follow the unseen string that binds them both.

When night comes, and in the guise of the shadows, she quietly flits through the camp, the luminous blue dragonstone in her hand as she goes to the lake; she knows it’s late, that Azura won’t be there, but somehow being near the water’s edge cools the dragon blood that runs through her veins, and she finds that it’s easier to change into the form that felt both unfamiliar and comfortable at the same time.

The silver of her scales is almost the same color as the reflection of the full moon above her, the same shade as the little craters that pepper its surface. She thinks of Nohr, shrouded in its eternal night, and then thinks of how beautiful the sunrise had been in Hoshido, the color of the sky matching the same hue of Azura’s golden eyes.

As she gazes down at her black claws digging furrows into the dirt by the shore, she thinks of the brilliant white of Azura’s dress. 

Then she cringes and recoils when she recalls with vivid clarity how she’d torn up that very same dress with the very claws before her.

She doesn’t like imagining that thread of fate anymore, because if Azura’s life is chained to a feral dragon, then she curses the gods for their cruel sense of humor.

But destiny, too, has its own hand to play, and if what is meant to be is to be, then it will be.

It’s Azura who follows the string that binds them both, and she turns her head to see Azura standing just feet away; the songstress reaches a hand out as she takes a step forward, whispering reassurances in that singsong voice of hers.

And that mighty dragon finds it so hard, so, so hard to resist the tug that draws her towards Azura, and she takes a hesitant step back.

But Azura moves forward, ever unflinching and unafraid in the face of danger, her hand, now just inches away from the armored faceplate of a beast straight from myth.

She genuinely tries to resist. She really does. But her heart aches, misses that gentle touch and kind smile, and she takes a step forward, and Azura’s hand rests against the end of her snout. Reunited, again, and she nuzzles into Azura’s palm and if she could’ve smiled then, she would have, for Azura’s giggle brightens the night around them, like another star in the sky.

They spend the rest of the night together, Azura’s song and presence strengthening her, giving her the confidence she needs to face the future, and as the sky lightens, she thinks of something.

They’re neither day or night, light or dark, but they’re dawn and dusk, the intersections of two worlds.

When they’re walking back to camp, and she takes Azura’s hand and feels Azura interlace their fingers together, something seems to align in the world, and in her heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this was originally meant to be a character study in _emotions_ and I felt a bit disappointed when writing this b/c I felt like I didn't really hit the mark on what I wanted to do, but I still like a lot of what I wrote in this so I thought i'd post it lol
> 
> I feel like I struggle to write emotions and internal thoughts, b/c I really wanted to focus on _showing_ and not _telling_ but I missed the ball on this one b/c I felt like this really was more of telling than showing...i'd like to do another study in body language without giving away or telling what the emotional cues are, but that'll be for another day lol


End file.
